Don't Merely Take My Word For It

This coming Sunday we will look at a short passage, one that is not as challenging to understand as most in Revelation. As such, I will not spend time in this post explaining Revelation 11:14-19.

What I will do is remind us not to merely take my word for the proper understanding of this book, but to read and study Revelation, and to interact with the blog posts I have done that seek to demonstrate the reasons for why I read this last book of the Bible the way I do. Remember that the authority of the message does not reside in me, but in the Bible. So, track not just with my interpretation, but also with how I am arriving at it.

Here are some reminders of what I have said so far about why I understand Revelation in the way I do:

1. The book is primarily a revelation from and about Jesus Christ (1:1). It is showing us who he is, what he has done and is doing to save and preserve his people, and how he is judging those who oppose him. 
2. The content of the book is highly symbolic--signifying behind the visions what our Lord and Savior is doing to save and preserve his people, and to bring judgment upon those who oppose him. This is seen in the 1:1 clause that reads, "He signified (or symbolized) it by sending his angel to his servant John...." 
3. The statements, "the things that must soon take place...those that are and those that are to take place after this" (1:1, 19) are derived from certain versions of Daniel 2:28-29 and demonstrate that this last book of the New Testament is telling us what is taking place during these last days we are now in that span from the coming of the Son of Man (see Daniel 7) to his second coming. 
4. Related to #3, the parallel nature we discover in the book of Revelation and the frequent repetition let us know that the book is cycling through several views of this age--each time as it does this adding more and more about what takes place from the first to second comings of Christ. 
5. The book is steeped in the Old Testament and filled with Old Testament quotes and allusions and must be understood in light of those quotes and allusions, as well as the tightly woven structure of the book. 

Given just these few points, we not only have guidance for understanding Revelation in general, but the passage we are looking at this Sunday (11:14-19) in particular. This passage brings us to the end of the second full cycle of visions of this entire age and so it brings us to the second coming of Christ and the consummation of the full kingdom of God's glory.

Read through this passage, asking God to help you understand it, in preparation for Sunday's sermon. Focus especially on this question:  Given what God says here about the future kingdom, how should we now live?

The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come. ¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” ¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
    who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
    and begun to reign.
¹⁸ The nations raged,
    but your wrath came,
    and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
    and those who fear your name,
    both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

¹⁹ Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.



Joyfully Looking Forward To And Praying For The Kingdom With You,

Tom